Apparatus for conveying tennis balls to a ball-throwing machine

Abstract

The apparatus comprises a wall (7) from which tennis balls (13) fall into a chute (8) fitted with lateral ramp sections (15, 16). The balls are carried along the chute by an endless conveyor (14) fitted with ball-entrainment (14). The balls are guided down a sloping section (18) at an end of the chute (14) by guides (19) and are then sucked along a flexible tube (11) to a rigid conduit (26). The conduit (26) has an end (21) of enlarged section fitted with a hinged closure flap (22) and an underpressure generating device (23).

I claim: 
     
       1. Apparatus for conveying tennis balls to a ball-throwing machine, said apparatus comprising a collecting chute; a rebound-deadening wall projecting upwards from one side of said collecting chute; a flexible tube having first and second ends and attached at said first end to said collecting chute at a withdrawal point thereof; a rigid conduit having first and second ends and attached at said first end thereof to said second end of said flexible tube; a hinged closure at said second end of said rigid conduit; and a device for generating underpressure connected laterally to said rigid conduit, whereby said underpressure in said rigid conduit normally holds said hinged closure in a closed position and tennis balls passing from said collecting chute into said flexible tube are conveyed therealong by said underpressure to said rigid conduit where a ball is capable of opening said hinged closure and thereby passing out of said rigid conduit to said ball-throwing machine; said apparatus being further characterised in that: (a) said collecting chute is provided with an endless conveyor element passing around two sheaves and provided with spaced ball-entrainment means, a run of said conveyor element being spaced above a bottom of said collecting chute by a distance so as to engage balls in said chute;   (b) said collecting chute has a downwardly sloping section only at one end adjacent to said withdrawal point and is provided above said downwardly sloping section with at least two guide members adapted to deflect said balls downwards, said run of said conveyor element passing between said guide members;   (c) a double section ramp is fitted to the side of said chute remote from said one side from which said rebound-deadening wall projects upwards, a first section of said ramp rising upwards away from said collecting chute and a second section of said ramp descending from said first section in use to the level of a tennis court on which said chute stands; and   (d) said flexible tube is freely movable and extends to a ball-dispensing unit incorporating said device for generating underpressure and said rigid conduit and adapted to be fitted to said ball-throwing machine, said device for generating underpressure being attached to the upper wall of an obliquely downwardly sloping end piece of said rigid conduit, said end piece being provided at its lower end with said hinged closure and having a cross section greater than an upstream portion of said rigid conduit.   
     
     
       2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said endless conveyor element is a flexible string and said ball-entrainment means are projections from said string. 
     
     
       3. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said projections are knots in said string. 
     
     
       4. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said projections are buttons carried on said string. 
     
     
       5. Apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein said ball-entrainment means are evenly spaced along said endless conveyor element. 
     
     
       6. Apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein said first ramp section is detachably pivotally connected to said collecting chute and said second ramp section is detachably pivotally connected to said first ramp section.